A centralized consistent location service is a feature of a distributed data storage system. The consistent location service may be responsible for the coordination of data relocations between different data stores of the distributed data storage system. However, a distributed data storage system that uses a centralized consistent location service may need to frequently interact with the consistent location service during normal operation, thereby decreasing its operational efficiency. The maintenance of the consistent location service may also consume additional computing and technical support resources, thereby increasing the operational cost of the distributed data storage system. Additionally, any malfunction of the consistent location service may also detrimentally impact the operation of the distributed data storage system.
Moreover, a centralized consistent location service may not be present in a tiered data storage system. Generally speaking, a tiered data storage system stores data in different types of data stores based on access criteria, frequency of use, security concerns, and other factors. For example, important data of a business that are frequently accessed and updated in real time may be stored in the “first tier” data stores of tiered data storage system. The data stores of the “first tier” may reside on storage servers that provide the highest accessibility, durability and/or reliability. In contrast, less mission critical data of the business may be stored in the data store of a “second tier”. The data stores of the “second tier” may reside on storage servers that are less robust and reliable. However, these storage servers may be less expensive to operate. Finally, historical or archival data of the business may be stored in the data stores of a “third tier”. The data stores of the “third tier” may reside on storage servers that are the most economical to operate, but offer the least amount of accessibility, durability, and/or reliability. Thus, in this example, as a particular piece of data become less mission critical and more historical, the particular piece of data may be incrementally relocated from data stores of the “first tier”, to the data stores of the “second tier”, and then finally to the data stores of the “third tier”.